State titles elude 4A swimmers

There were no individual championships for Issaquah School District boys swimmers at the 4A State Swimming and Diving Championships Feb. 19 at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

But Issaquah High’s Brian Ruggles certainly spent a lot of time on the podium as he placed among the state’s top five in two events and also swam on two relays that ranked among the top eight.

Ruggles finished third in the 100 freestyle in 48.38 seconds, which was a respectable time in most meets. However, Eastlake freshman phenom Edward Kim won the event in an all-America qualifying time of 45.56 and Kentridge’s Chase Bublitz was second in 47.54.

Kim and Bublitz also went one-two in the 50 freestyle where Ruggles ended up fifth in 22.14.

Ruggles anchored Issaquah’s 400 freestyle relay, which finished sixth in 3:19. Willie Matsuda, Skyler Kersten and Austin Melody were other members of the relay.

Issaquah’s 200 medley relay, anchored by Ruggles, placed eighth in 1:41.69. Gentry Gevers, Melody and Matsuda were other members of the relay.

Other placers for Issaquah were Melody, 14th in the 200 individual medley; Gevers, 10th in the 100 backstroke; and Matsuda, 12th in the 100 butterfly. Issaquah’s 200 freestyle relay of Kersten, Gevers, Adam Florsheim and David Nam finished 14th.

As a team, Issaquah finished 11th with 99 points. Kamiak won the team title with 240.5 points. Newport, one of Issaquah’s KingCo Conference rivals, placed fourth with 138 points and Eastlake, another KingCo foe, was fifth with 128 points.

Skyline’s Max Levy finished second in the 1-meter diving competition with 367 points. Levy, a sophomore just started diving in September.

“It was fun. It was a good meet,” Levy said. “It was my first year, so I was kinda nervous.”

Skyline teammate Alec Raines was 14th in the 500 freestyle.

Kim had a sensational meet for Eastlake. He won the 50 freestyle in 21.32 seconds and the 100 freestyle. His teammate Zach Alleva won the 100-breaststroke in an all-American consideration time of 58.84.